Trapped Under Rubble
by ThrowawayName
Summary: Raven gets trapped under the debris with a civilian for a few hours. AU in which Beast Boy is a normal civilian with a kid. Character ages are in their late 20s. Please review if you have any comments on the story


It was an unusual situation for Raven. In the chaos and confusion of a bomb going off, she had grabbed the civilian she had been escorting out of the factory, and brought out her shield to stop them from being crushed to death by falling debris. Now here she was, trapped with the one man she had rescued underneath a mass of rubble of debris.

She tried using her power to get them out, but the previous battle, and emergency shield had drained her to the point where she couldn't teleport, and moving the debris proved to not be the safest course of action. For now, she was going to sit with the civilian and wait for the others to rescue her. Now, if only this guy would sit still and be quiet while she meditates.

"So, you're Raven right? My name's Garfield, I've been big fans of the Titans ever since I moved here with my son, speaking of which you're his favorite." He had introduced himself, as if he were simply meeting her at a convention, instead of underneath tons of concrete.

"That's nice." She had said. She genuinely meant it, at least, it wasn't often that she was told that she was somebodies favorite. "But, if we want to get out of here then I need to meditate to recuperate my strength, or we'll be waiting for my teammates to rescue us."

He smiled at her, "Well, how long would it take for you to get your strength back?"

"A few hours at the most, I can't give you too accurate of a prediction."

"How about you give me, let's say, ten minutes, and then I'll leave you alone?"

Raven paused at the question, it wasn't too much to ask for, especially if it meant quiet time for the rest of the time she was trapped here. "Alright, get anything you have on your mind out now, and then let me meditate."

"Right, first, name's Garfield, you can call me Gar for short," he started, "I've got a son who is almost eight years old. We moved here after my wife died a few years ago."

Great, Raven thought, a sob story. "I'm sorry to hear that." She responded, giving some level of empathy to the widower.

"Oh, it's fine, I've moved on from it. She was wonderful, but I think it's about time to find somebody new in my life. It's what she would have wanted."

"I see, and how has that been going?"

"Oh, just great. At least, until they find out I have a kid already." He said, sounding a bit hurt. "It's their choice to not want to be with a guy that's already got a son, but it does start getting to you after a while."

Raven felt her sympathy for the man growing, "I'm sure you'll find somebody eventually," she smiled at him, "not every girl in Jump City can have 'has a kid' as an immediate deal breaker."

"You really think so?"

"Of course." She simply replied. Raven thought a few moments more, pondering on whether or not to share this information with him. "You know, I can't even have kids."

"Really?"

"I'm a crossbreed, we're sterile by default."

"Oh, I see. We were just covering crossbreeds in class a couple of weeks ago."

"You go to school? What for?"

"I'm studying animal science during night classes. I dropped out when I had my son, but I'm going back to finish my degree and become a vet. This damn factory was just a day job to help pay for that."

"I see, that's a very admirable goal to have in mind."

"Anything where I can help animals is fine by me." He replied with an earnest smile. "Plus I'll get paid well enough that my son's college education won't be as big of a deal."

"A good father too, I see."

Raven could see the blush forming on his cheeks, even in the low lighting conditions of their current predicament. "Well, I do what I can."

There seemed to be a bit of a silence that fell on the two of them after that. Garfield was the one who broke it, "You know, if you want to go get some coffee after we get out of this sometime, I wouldn't mind taking you out."

Raven could sense his nervousness. She couldn't blame him for that when just being asked out on a date caused her to fell just as nervous. Not a whole of guys or girls were brave enough to ask her out.

"I think I would like that, but just so you know, I prefer tea."

He was about to continue the conversation when she cut him off, "Uh uh, your ten minutes is up," she said with a teasing smirk, "I need to meditate now."

"Right, have fun with that." He said, still feeling like a teenager who had just asked out his crush.

It took a few hours, but Raven finally had the energy to teleport them both out. Her friends had been looking for her, but they had been in the wrong area. At least that had led to them rescuing more civilians who needed the help more. She bid Garfield adieu, giving him her phone number, and setting up a time and place for their date.

Cyborg was the first to notice her and call over.

"Hey Rae, you look pretty pleased with yourself for someone who was just under a pile of rubble for three hours, what's up?"

"It was no big deal, I got a date out of it."


End file.
